QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.
RELEVANCE
The Energy Use and Conservation Survey was conducted in March 2008 and provides data on energy sources, energy use and energy saving measures used in households. The survey is conducted throughout Australia as a supplement to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS). Previous surveys were run in June 1994, March 1999, 2002 and 2005. For survey coverage, see Explanatory Notes (paragraph 12).
Chapter 6 which looks at awareness of GreenPower schemes only collects data from states and territories that are participating in the National GreenPower Accreditation Program. Therefore, data was not collected for Tasmania or the Northern Territory.
TIMELINESS
The Energy Use and Conservation Survey is collected in March every three years. The next time this survey will be enumerated is in March 2011. The results are released approximately six months after enumeration, i.e. November.
ACCURACY
The number of completed interviews (after taking into account scope and coverage exclusions) for the Energy Use and Conservation survey was 12,965. See the Explanatory Notes (paragraph 3) for more information.
The Energy Use and Conservation was designed primarily to provide estimates at State level and capital city/balance of state/territory, though users should exercise caution when using estimates at this level because of the presence of high sampling errors. Prior to 2008, a statistical model was produced that relates the size of estimates to their corresponding RSEs, and this information was displayed via a 'standard errors of estimates' table. RSEs for 2008 Energy Use and Conservation Surveys estimates are published for the first time in 'direct' form and are released in spreadsheet format as an attachment to Environmental Issues: Energy Use and Conservation, Australia (cat. no. 4602.0.55.001).
COHERENCE
Prior to 2008, the annual publication Environmental Issues: People's Views and Practices(cat. no. 4602.0) focused on one of three rotating topics each year: Energy use and conservation (last issue 2005), Waste management and transport use (last issue 2006) and Water use and conservation (last issue 2007). These are now three separate topics and have been renamed. For 2008, the 4602.0 publication has been renamed 'Environmental Issues: Energy Use and Conservation'(cat. no. 4602.0.55.001).
In 2008, new data items were included to capture type and number of televisions and solar hot water system or solar panels used to generate electricity. Some existing data items were modified to provide more detailed information on lighting, energy sources and household appliances. Data items referring to amounts people willing to pay through the GreenPower scheme were not collected.
INTERPRETABILITY
The Energy Use and Conservation publication contains tables and an Introduction and main findings to aid interpretation of the results of the survey. Detailed explanatory notes, a technical note and a glossary are also included providing information on the terminology, classifications and other technical aspects associated with these statistics.
Further key references on environmental concerns, energy use and conservation can be found through the following websites:
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (http://www.abareconomics.com)
Australian Government Department of Climate Change (http://www.climatechange.gov.au)
National GreenPower Accreditation Program (http://www.greenpower.gov.au)
ACCESSIBILITY
The main product from the survey is a PDF publication, Environmental Issues: Energy Use and Conservation (cat. no. 4602.0.55.001), released electronically via the ABS website. In addition to the PDF publication, the tables and associated RSEs will be available in spreadsheet form.
Data is available at State level and capital city/balance of state. Additional data may be available on request. Note that detailed data can be subject to high relative standard errors, and where this is the case they should be used with caution.
For further information about these or related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Centre on 1300 135 070.
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